<h4>Warning Tags</h4>

<p>The Archive of Our Own has chosen, for legal and other reasons, to mandate that users either warn for or explicitly choose to not warn for a short list of common warnings: major character death, underage, rape/noncon, and graphic violence. We understand that authors may wish to not warn for some of these things, or to warn for additional content, and have provided options that allow them to do so within this framework.</p>

<dl id="help">
	<dt>Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings:</dt>
	<dd>
	Use this if you don't want to warn for anything (because you don't like warnings, because you're avoiding spoilers, etc.). You may also choose this option if you want to use one or more archive warnings but don't want to use others (because you don't like warning for certain topics, because you're avoiding some spoilers but not others, etc.).
	</dd>
	<dt>No Archive Warnings Apply:</dt>
	<dd>
	Use this if the archive warnings don't apply to your content (in other words, if it contains no graphic depictions of violence, major character death, rape/non-con, or underage sexuality).
	</dd>
	<dt>Graphic Depictions Of Violence:</dt>
	<dd>
	This is for gory, graphic, explicitly described violence.  Exactly where to draw the line is your call.
	</dd>
	<dt>Major Character Death:</dt>
	<dd>
	Please use your best judgment about who counts as a major character.
	</dd>
	<dt>Rape/Non-Con:</dt>
	<dd>
	Again, this is your call.  If you think your content is borderline non-con, but you don't feel like using this warning (or you're not sure if you should), you always have the option of using "Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings" instead.
	</dd>
	<dt>Underage:</dt>
	<dd>
	This is for descriptions or depictions of sexual activity by characters under the age of eighteen (this does not include dating activity like kissing or vague references with no actual description/depiction).  This generally applies to humans: If you are writing porn about space aliens who only live for a month or thousand year-old vampires with twelve year-old bodies, please just use your best judgment.  You are always free to specify characters' ages or to use "Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings".
	</dd>
</dl>

<p>You can also use the "additional tags" field to give other or more detailed warnings. For more information on our policies see the <a href="/tos">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="/tos_faq">Terms of Service FAQ</a>.</p>